1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to methods for treating cell components, cells, organelles, organs, and/or tissues with acoustic energy, electromagnetic energy, static or alternating electric fields, and/or static or alternating magnetic fields in the presence or absence of particulate enhancing agents for therapeutic applications including enhancing drug delivery to cell components, cells, organelles, organs, and/or tissues.
More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to methods for treating cell components, cells, organelles, organs, and/or tissues with acoustic energy, electromagnetic energy, static and/or alternating electric fields, and/or static and/or alternating magnetic fields in the presence or absence of particulate s for therapeutic applications including enhancing drug delivery to cell components, cells, organelles, organs, and/or tissues, where the methods include determining a type of energy and/or field, which produces a desired response in a cell component, a cell type, an organelle, an organ, and/or a tissue. The methods also include irradiating with acoustic and/or electromagnetic energy and/or applying a static and/or alternating electric and/or magnetic fields to the cell component, the cell type, the organelle, the organ, and/or the tissue for a duration, at energy level and/or field level, at a frequency or frequencies sufficient to achieve a desired response in the cell component, the cell type, the organelle, the organ, and/or the tissue. The methods may also include irradiating and/or applying in the presence of particles designed to enhance therapeutic efficacy of the irradiating and/or applying.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,165,440 to Esenaliev disclosed a treatment of solid tumors with acoustic and/or electromagnetic energy in the presence of nanoparticles to effectuate a therapeutic response in the tumor.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,144,627, 6,908,496, 6,852,252, 6,778,316, 6,699,724, 6,685,986, 6,685,730, 6,660,381, 6,645,517, 6,530,944, 6,428,811, and 6344272 disclose the use of nano-shells to enhance therapeutic treatments in a body through the placement of the nano-shells in the tissue to be treated and the particles thermalize incident radiation causing localized heating of the tissue.
Although acoustic and/or electromagnetic energy in the presence of nanoparticles have been disclosed for therapeutic applications, there is still the need in the art for new or different methods for therapeutic applications capable of being performed in the absence or presence of nanoparticles.